We are not Alone!
by WikketKrikket
Summary: When Marco innocently revists the site they found in book 16, he gets a suprise someone is looking for them. This leads to new allies and another adventure... All the way across the ocean. Discontinued, Author name changed from Waffles4eva
1. NewKid on the block

We are not Alone!

A/N: This Fic is based from book #16. You don't have to have read it, but it'll make a lot more sense if you do! Did you ever wonder what happened to Gump8293? Chazz? MegMum? Carlito? Time to find out!

One: NewKid on the block **Marco **

I signed in on one of my many fake Screen names. I wish I could tell you, but it's just not going to happen. If I could tell you then I would. Because then it would mean all I had to fear were the usual internet creepos.

I have much bigger enemies. So do all my friends. So does the entire planet. Imagine Dr Who vs. The Darleks. It's that kind of rivalry, only the Darleks are a lot less dangerous then the Yeerks.

And a whole lot cuter.

Anyway, I signed onto the net and I found myself thinking back. I hadn't been on any of my favourite sites in a long time. It was just another way for the Yeerks to find me.

You think I'm Paranoid? Well, you try being an Animorph. Let's see if you don't get a little eccentric.

Then I found myself thinking about one particular site. A while back, we found a site dedicated to Yeerks. We found a set of people who knew about the Yeerks. Only some of whom had wanted to destroy them.

We also discovered Visser Three's Twin.

But that's another story.

I was struck by a bizarre urge to go back on. I wanted to find out if our hidden allies were still alive. Or if they were still themselves.

_This is insane, _I told myself, as I began to take the necessary precautions. Not that they really were necessary any more. Ax had written a program into my PC that made it completely Hack-Proof. He had also written in a program so I won every online game I played.

Again, that's another story.

I called up the site and clicked on 'Chat about Yeerks'. A discussion was scheduled to start in five minutes. I twiddled my thumbs, waiting for the page to load. I didn't wait long.

"Come on, you cruddy thing!" I yelled at it. Perhaps it didn't like abuse. It didn't speed up. In fact, I swear it slowed down. I glared at it. "Fine. Be that way. I can wait."

Hey there, Marco. I spun round. Tobias was perched on my bedroom windowsill.

"Tobias! You scared me half to death!" I opened my window and let the Hawk in. "What are you doing here?!"

I came to see if you wanted to do some flying. He replied, sounding injured. There's some gorgeous thermals this morning. 

"Are the others going?" I asked. He shifted uncomfortably.

Well...errm...no, not exactly. They were all busy. 

"So I'm the last resort? Great." Then, at last, the page appeared. And something very interesting was going on.

_Chazz: Is everyone here?_

_MegMum: I am. But I don't think Gump is. I think_

_Carlito: Hey, everybody!_

_MegMum: he must've told his dad._

_Chazz: Hey Carlito_

_Carlito: I hope Gump's OK. Where's Fitey?_

_MegMum: They will have taken him and either killed him or_

_Chazz: Fitey hasn't come for a while. I think he's given_

_MegMum: Or infested him._

_Chazz: up. Surely Gump won't have been so stupid as to_

_Carlito: But Fitey was one of the best Yeerk identifiers!_

_Chazz: have told his dad what he knew?_

_MegMum: I hope not, Chazz._

_Carlito: Me to. But what're we going to do?_

_NewKid5: Please, you must listen to me. I have info on_

_Chazz: Who're you?_

_NewKid5: the Yeerks. This site is a trap. They use it_

_Carlito: A trap?_

_NewKid5: to find out who knows about them._

_MegMum: WHO ARE YOU?_

_NewKid5: It's not important. I am a hunted person. Just listen_

_NewKid5: to what I have to tell you. I don't have_

_NewKid5: much time. For a while now, a group of_

_NewKid5: us have been actively fighting the Yeerks. But we're not_

_NewKid5: the only ones. There is another race, the Andalites, who_

_NewKid5: also stand against them._

Uh-Oh. Tobias said.

"This kid actually knows what he's talking about..." I muttered. Then I made a decision. "Go get the others." I told Tobias. "Tell them I'll meet them at Cassie's in half an hour. I'll see how this turns out..."

Oh man... Tobias groaned. Remember where this got us last time? 

I remembered alright. It wasn't pretty. Tobias flew from the window, and I went back to the conversation that was scrolling down the screen.

The Chat Room was silent, if you know what I mean. No-one was talking, for once. They were all listening to NewKid. My head was spinning. There was another group of children who fought the Yeerks. It wasn't just us! We had known other people _knew _about the Yeerks, but someone out there was actually _doing _something about them? And worse yet, this kid knew about 'us'? Or at least the Andalite race? But then, NewKid could be a Yeerk, wanting the kids to find the 'Andalites' for them...

_Chazz: Who're the Andalites?_

_Carlito: How many are in your group? How do you fight?_

_NewKid: The Andalites have the ability to change into any animal_

_NewKid5:they want._

_MegMum: Please answer Carlito. I want to know how_

_NewKid5: We believe there are six such Andalites on_

_Earth. They_

Oops. Busted. There went my hope to avoid certain death.

_MegMum: I can help._

_NewKid5: do a lot of damage. But not enough. We_

_Chazz: I agree with Meg._

_NewKid5: must help._

_Carlito: How? How can we find you?_

_NewKid5: We will find you._

_Chazz: We? Who's we?_

_NewKid5: An underground_ _resistance movement. 120 members at the last count._

120 members! This was incredible! The Animorphs had practically an army behind them. Or against them, if this was another trap. I groaned. While an army of allies would defiantly be a good thing, it would undoubtedly mean another suicide mission.

_MegMum: 120!_

_NewKid5: The Yeerks are starting to take a grip on other_

_Chazz: That's a lot of members. How can we trust you?_

_NewKid5: countries. I must go, or I will be found. Just_

The Yeerks? In other countries? No way! We thought they were just in the good old USA. That, we could delay. Slightly. But an invasion in more then one country? At once? We had thought they'd do it one at a time, gradually increasing in number, and move onto the next. It was less noticeable that way...

_Carlito: What she's saying makes sense. Since we all know aliens_

_NewKid5: one thing. Never use this site again. They will find_

_Carlito: exist; it's logical to assume we're not the last ones standing._

_NewKid5: you. Leave your homes, your families, your schools. Trust no-one._

_Chazz: Leave?!_

_MegMum: Why?!_

_NewKid5:Everyone close to you is at risk as long as_

_NewKid5:you are with them._

_Carlito: You mean they'll use them to get us?_

_MegMum: wouldn't put it past them. The Yeerks are ruthless._

_Gump8293: Guys! What's going on? Are we going to listen to NewKid?_

_MegMum: Hey, Gump. Glad you're okay. Yes, I think we are._

_NewKid5: Good. We will come for you shortly._

_Chazz: When? Where?_

_Carlito: she's gone._

_Gump8293: Um, Guys? I just checked who's signed in._

_There's someone_

_Chazz: I don't believe it. Others like us?_

_MegMum: I know. For so long we've hoped for something like_

_Gump8239: else here. They aren't talking._

_Carlito: What's their name, Gump?_

_MegMum: this..._

_Chazz: Gump? Are you trying to tell me there's a..._

_Spy, or something...?_

_Gump8239: Their name is BaldwinBoy5. Anyone know him?_

"Ax, I'm going to kill you!" I screamed at the printer that was oh-so-slowly churning out the conversation. Lucky my dad wasn't home.

_Chazz: Who's there?_

I shut the page down as soon as I could, cursing all the way. Five minutes later, I left the house.

A/N: Ohhhh... What more can I say?

Oh, would you look at that! There's a little blue box with 'review' written on it under this A/N! Fancy that!

(Hint hint)

(Are you reviewing?)

(No?)

(WHY NOT?!)

(Why the hec are you still reading?!)

(You can, like, you know, leave...)

(The chapter IS finished, ya know...)

(Do you really like the fic that much...?)

(Or do you just enjoy my random comments?)

(YOU'RE STILL HERE?!!)

(Blimey, what is WRONG with you people?!!)

(Just GO already!)

If you've reached here, you are seriously sad.


	2. Christmas Trees don't grow indoors

A/N: I'm back...! Anyway, apologies for the last chapter. I don't think it was written very well at all, quite disappointing really. Ah well I just wanted to get that one over and done with, so I could move onto more interesting things. I've also been told that the thought speech marks didn't show up. Turns out they had gone to lunch, so I fired them and put brackets in their place, 'k? This'll be a short one, I'm afraid, 'cause I'm sleeping at my friends today and I wanna submit this before I leave.

Anonymous-cat: Well, you wanted it, and here it is!

East Coast Ryder: Thanks so much for pointing that out! I wouldn't have noticed...Oh, and by 'kids' I meant Gump, Carlito, Chazz and MegMum.

Disclaimer: Didn't you see it already? I forgot last chapter though, so...I don't own anything except the plot and OC's.

Two: Christmas Trees can't grow indoors (**Jake**)

The trail had lead us nowhere.

We had tried everything we could think of. We had sat in on many of the chats, but sure enough, Chazz, MegMum and all the others did not use the site again. We tried to find NewKid's homepage (There wasn't one) and we had even gone back to the WWA building.

Guess what. NewKid was on a different internet provider. In short, he was about as elusive as he could possibly get.

And we were out of ideas.

Time passed, and gradually, we forgot about NewKid. We forgot that the Yeerks were abroad. We tried to forget that we had failed. But we never really stopped hoping that the resistance movement was still out there somewhere, watching our backs.

And so it was that about two weeks before Christmas, Me and Marco were heading towards the Mall to do some Christmas shopping. And Ax was coming along for the ride.

Have you ever tried to _explain _Christmas? To an Andalite? Talk about a tough job.

"No!" Marco yelled in frustration "The tree doesn't grow! How could it _possibly _grow indoors?!"

"Then what is the point in having a tree?" Ax asked. "Tuh-ree. Ree. Tuh. Why have it when it can't grow?" I interrupted before he could play with the sounds again.

"It's not a real tree, Ax." I said. "Well, not usually, anyway. It's fake- plastic."

"Then why do you bother?" Ax asked. He sounded confused. "Oferr. Boffer. Er."

"Finshed?" I asked him.

"Look, it's traditional!" Marco said, exasperated. "No-one knows exactly _why _we do it, we just do!"

"Ah." Said Ax, like he understood. He didn't. He had also decided that the conversation was pointless.

We stood to one side, to let some girl in a wheelchair and her friends pass. They seemed to be reliving every _Star Wars_ film they had seen.

"No way!" The guy was saying. "_The Phantom Menace_ is the best film!"

"Saddo..." Marco whispered to me. He didn't like _The Phantom Menace_.

"No, _A_ _New Hope _is the best." The other girl said.

"Yeah!" The one in the chair agreed.

"Well, _The Phantom Menace _has the double-ended light sabre in it." The guy replied, nodding his thanks as they went past.

"Yeah, but does it have the Taxxons in it?" The kid in the chair shot back.

_Taxxons?_ I whipped my head round to look at them. I froze, wondering what to do, to say...

"Jake, come on..." Marco murmured in my ear "Don't give a reaction." I gave a slight nod, and carried on walking. The _New Hope _girl reached up to scratch behind her ear, and...

And we were in a hologram.

A/N: Again, apologies for the shortness. I just thought I'd get something up. Still, it's a cliffe! MWHAHAHAHA!!...It's not? Not even just a little bit? Even if I wasn't going out, I think this would still be short. I don't like writing Jake. I mean, can that guy ever cheer up? He's always so depressed, Don't ya think? Why does he ALWAYS blame himself?

I'm not a big Jake fan.

Sorry for any Star Wars mistakes in there, if any...

Review!!


	3. Three: NewKid's a girl!

A/N: Well, I'm back from my friend's, and yep, it's straight back on the PC. We went to see the Yu-Gi-Oh film (It's just come out over here) and then we ended up talking about her Yu-Gi-Oh fic (Not to put up, just for fun) for four hours straight, with a break for half an hour, then talking about it AGAIN till two in the morning. However, I did get a lot of ideas for funny YGO fics...heeheehee...watch this space!

East Coast Rider: Yay! Second Review! Errm...he did? Well...errm...poetic licence? And Yep, they were kids. (I hope!)

Anonymous-cat: Well, that's the point...Glad someone guessed...Anyway, I'm glad you've reviewed me! I read some fics of yours a while before I got an account...don't know if I reviewed though...

Korean Pearl: Thank you! I like peoples saying nice things bout my stories!! I'd thank you for the 'Author's Alert' thing too...if I knew what it was. Is it a good thing...? Please, enlighten me! I'm new to this! Well, the hopefully-not-too-long-wait is over! Here's chappie Three! Oh, by the way, I've read your fics too, before I got an account!

Dancingsaxes: I'm so sorry! How did I mange to forget you? Your review came within an hour of me putting it up! I'm a bad person...Ah well, this chapter's for you!

Three: NewKid's a girl?! (Well, that just gave it away, didn't it?) (**Tobias)**

It was winter.

When I was a little kid, I had loved the winter. Snow and school holidays, but most of all...Christmas.

Now I like it for different reasons.

See, everyone has their heating on in winter.

Houses, cars, offices...they're all creating this huge updraft of warm air. You can ride the thermals right up the bellies of the clouds. The only downside is that it's a lot harder to find prey when they're all hibernating. However, I have human intelligence on my side. I know that they hide down holes.

Anyway, I'm sure you don't want an entire chapter of my winter life.

I was above a road. Just chilling out, really. The hawk equivalent of crashing down on the sofa and watching day-time TV.

I spotted Jake and Marco walking down a road on the next block. With Ax.

You can't take Ax anywhere. And I mean _anywhere. _I'm not exaggerating.Taking Ax out isn't a recipe for disaster, Ax _is _a walking disaster.

At least, when he's human. But people would probably get a little upset if Asimov's answer to ET went walking down the street.

(I better keep an eye on you guys.) I said, more cheerful then I am usually. But they didn't hear. Turns out I wasn't in range.

But not out of earshot. I listened to Marco's valiant attempt at explaining Christmas Trees. I laughed. Then things got weird.

Some kids were coming down the road towards them, talking about _Star Wars_. Then- and I'd bet my morphing power on this- one of them mentioned Taxxons.

(Taxxons!) I yelled. (They're not in _A New Hope_!) And I was so shocked that I nearly flew into a seagull.

How embarrassing.

I turned back round, searching frantically for my friends. Then I saw them, just chatting to the _Star Wars_ fans on the pavement below. My first feeling was relief.

Then I thought: _That's not right..._For a while I couldn't figure out what was going on. _Come on Brain. _I thought _Supply the clever solution..._

_Not gonna happen, _it replied _You're on your own, buddy._

Yes, I know it's a bit weird, but I think I'm allowed a few oddities. I'm a half-bird, half-human, half-andalite that fights brain-stealing aliens on a regular basis.

And that's too many halves.

I watched Ax having a perfectly normal conversation with these kids.

"Uh-huh." He said. "I failed it too. Why do they make the tests so _hard_..."

_Perfectly normal?_

The penny dropped.

(HOLOGRAM!!!) I yelled at no-one in particular. Then I added smugly (I knew I could do it without you...)

(Tobias...?) a voice slightly to my left said, uncertainly.

Great.

(**Ax**)

The Hologram was really rather clever. And I had never seen anything like it before. It was dome shaped as usual, with the force-field reinforcing it on the outside.

The reason it was unusual was because there was a divide, another force-field down the middle. I didn't have a clue how it worked. Elfangor could work it out. I think. Maybe if Marco, I, and the Chee helped...yeah, that would work...Of course, I'd have to ask Prince Jake if was alright first. Or Elfangor. Elfangor was my Prince, after all.

So was Jake.

Well, Elfangor _is_ my brother. Prince Jake was friendly, but he's not family.

"Is it _really_ necessary to sedate them...?" The girl in the strange seat frowned.

"_You're _the technical wiz in this." The male pointed out, not quite casually "If you want it off, turn it off."

"I don't think it's right." The girl scowled back.

"Yeah? You think these guys will let you X-Ray their heads without argument? At least one of them knows about our alien _friends_."

"They're not friends..." I muttered "They're nasty." The boy laughed.

"I think I'm going to like these guys!" He cried. "Who knows, maybe one can replace _you _Maya."

"Hey, leave her alone..." Marco said blearily. "She's not doing anything..."

"Yeah, lay off Chris." The other female said. "if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be able to do this at all. So leave her alone, and hope she decides to stick around!"

The girl in the strange seat smiled at her. The male just snorted.

Maybe humans are related to pigs...I'd have to ask the Professor of Xeno-biology when I got back. Maybe he'd know.

Or maybe I should ask Cassie. Perhaps she'd know how plastic trees grew in houses once a year too...

"Are they ready?" He said impatiently "Let's wrap this up, shall we? It's a long way home."

"The fact the twins'll get us home instantly has nothing to do with it?"

"Nnnope."

"Uh-huh. They're done." The girl in the chair said. "Drop the force-field."

The divide disappeared.

"Why couldn't Cissy deal with this?" The second female asked. The male snorted again.

"Cissy can't do a thing...at least, not right." He turned to girl in the chair, who had been rooting though a backpack. "You got those headsets, Maya?"

"Yep." 'Maya' replied. And then, she pushed the wheels on her chair, and to my surprise, she was propelled across the ground!

"That's amazing!" I said happily. She laughed.

"You like the wheels, man?"

"Yes!"

She laughed again, and began to attach some sort of headset to me.

_What am I doing? _The thought came from far away. I ignored it. It wasn't important. I watched with interest as the chair moved across the Hologram, to allow Maya to attach headsets to Prince Jake's and Marco's heads.

_Snap out of it! _Another thought said. The girl was just finishing Marco's set.

(Ax? Marco? Jake?) A firmer thought this time. It was Tobias. He wasn't in here...

"You'll have to wait..." I told him. "I'm busy."

(Guys, hang on. Cassie's here and we're trying to get in...)

Cassie? I had to remember to ask her about...what was it...?

_Elfangor is dead!_

What? No, he was my Prince. He wasn't dead. How absurd. I watched Marco and Prince Jake trying to put the sets off. How silly.

Prince Jake? What about Elfangor?

_ELFANGOR IS DEAD!! _

He was...dead. Yes. Murdered by Visser Three.

Dead.

It was like waking up. I snapped back, and began to attempt pulling the set from my head, whishing I had my tail. Thank goodness I had remembered Elfangor was dead, or I might still be in a dream.

"Chill." The other female walked over to me, and put a hand on my arm. Just an X-ray. I glanced at Jake. He had stopped struggling. He caught my eye, and gave a slight nod. Beside him, Marco winked at me.

I stopped struggling. So we were playing along for now.

The human called Maya was now checking something on a laptop.

"He's clean..." she announced. "So are the other two. Looks like we've got a relatively easy day. No hosts among them." The male seemed to relax.

"Well, at least that makes our job relatively easy..." he said.

"Easy for who?" Marco said, pulling the set off. Prince Jake was doing the same. So I followed suit. "Just what's going on here?" All three of the strange humans jumped. The other two turned to glare at Maya.

"Opps." She shrugged.

"And we want the truth." Jake added. "Or Andalite friend here may not be too pleased." Everyone turned to look at me. I began to demorph.

"So...an Andalite..." The female that wasn't Maya whispered.

"So..." Marco mimicked. "A bunch of Yeerks." They all started to laugh. Relived laughter.

"To the contrary," Maya giggled. "Which one of you is BalwinBoy5?" The suddenness of the question shocked us. Never the less, Marco gave a catious nod.

"Well," The boy continued. "BalwinBoy? I'd like you to meet NewKid."

The girl in the odd chair gave a little bow.

There was a stunned silence.

"Well," Marco said brightly "We found him- her, even."

"Took ya long enough..." Maya grinned.

A/N: So there we have it. Sorry about the split POV's, but I wanted to get Tobias into it. And Cassie was just one of those spur of the moment type add-ins. Rachel's in the next chapter though, just bear with me. At least this was a long chapter to make up for the last one!

Ya Know, I can't wait to reveal thier names. Do you know how annoying it is to keep having to write 'The Male' 'The other female' all the time? Bet it's annoying to read too...

To all those Dungeons & Dragons fans out there, happy anniversary! That's right, D&D has been round for thirty years today! (21st August, 2004)

See ya all next chapter!


	4. Four: There are no Taxxons in Star Wars

A/N: Another day, another chapter. I'm surprised at the good responses I'm getting from this fic, to be honest...so I'll continue, because it's just getting good. And the base will be in England, where I understand the rating systems, and malls are called shopping centres and the Subway is the underground, and trash is rubbish, and where there's NO SUCH THING AS CINNABON!!! Sorry. I get carried away... NOOOOOO!!! Last week of the hols starts today!! I only have...(_Counts on Fingers)_ 8 days left! (We have a training day). NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! (_Begins running round in Panic)_ Where'd the other 5 weeks go?!!

Mr Diggles: Over there! (_Points) _(You don't know who Mr Diggles is? Check out my Bio!)

A/N: Errm...Anyways, I've been updating like every other day, but they'll be a lot more spread out after this week, cause first of all I'll be at school all day, then I'll have homework. And It'll be more homework than usual 'cause I'm in Year 9, And that's...(_Gasp)_ SATS Year!!! NOOOOO!!! Worse still, My School just had a huge grant, so they're bringing in an Express band for the Genius kids, and everyone's telling me I'm gonna be in it, I'm the only that doesn't think so, because the Express will get more homework, so I'll only have the weekends to write and (_Passes out)_

East Coast Rider- Thanks for being so consistent in your reviews. As for the 'kids', well, let's not quibble about minor details. They're not important to the plot anyway. In fact, they probably won't even show up.

(Don't ya just love the word 'quibble'? I know I do! Yes, I'm a freak...so...?)

BrianaLFBH: Yay! New reviewer! And a very over-excited one at that. I read your review and I was like 'Dude! It's the return of the hyperactive Mole People!' (See, I wrote a fic once upon a time and Voldemort was holding the world ransom for 10, 000,000 strawberry Starburst, and they were going to tunnel into his lair, but they couldn't unless they had several sticks of dynamite and a team of 10, 000 hyperactive mole people...You don't want to know.)

KP: Ahh! I just realised that I was just _assuming _that you were one of those..._tries to remember fancy word_ one of those Jews that believed in Jesus, because in the A/N, you said you went to the Synagogue you used in the fic, and then they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, so...Anyway, I'm sorry if I was wrong and have offended you in anyway. Besides that, thanks for being so consistent in reviewing, and I liked having such a long review! I'll save it forever! (_Notices that Inbox is full. Deletes all messages)._ Nah, only joking. I still have about 10MG of space, so everyone can review! (Hint hint!)

Anonymous Cat- All will be revealed...

BM ...(_Sweatdrop)_ Let's just pretend that I meant to do that...Ok? Wait, better idea! You didn't see that! (_Uses Flashy thing from MIB)_ This never happened...Oh, by the way, what does BM stand for? Black Mage? As in Final Fantasy? As in _8-bit theatre_?! Man, I love that site...Anyone else? Any fans of the theatre here? Anyone know what I'm talking about? Well, well done for being so obsevervant, BM. I reward you with... A WAFFLE!! (Well, what else would it be?) _(Hands over waffle)_

Disclaimer: Is this really necessary? I DON'T OWN ANIMORPHS!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU?!!

A/N: Well, that was the longest A/N I've ever written...let's hope the chapter's as good...Though this one's mainly to explain things, because _someone (Cough)_ Anonymous-cat! (_Cough)_ Doesn't have a clue what's going on!

Four: Taxxons aren't in _Star Wars_...(**Marco**)

"So. Are you going to explain just what is going on here?" Jake asked them. The boy continued to glare at the girl sitting in the chair.

"What?" She asked "Everyone makes mistakes, you know..." She turned her back to him, and saw me looking at her. She gave a slight wink.

I didn't return it.

"We demand some sort of explanation." Jake said. He is _so _fearless leader. He'd give Captain America (A/N: That is his name, right?) a run for his money.

"How much do you know already?" The guy sighed. "I presume you all read that chat. You know about the Yeerks. You know about the resistance. What else do you want to know?"

"We want to know who you are, how you made the hologram, what you did to us just then, what the headsets were for, what you plan to do next, and most importantly..." He paused. "What you know about us." Maya opened her mouth, but the other girl held up a hand to stop her.

"Hold it guys," She said. "There's a girl and some Physco bird that have been slamming into the force field for the last few minutes. I'm not sure how much longer it can stand up...Maya?"

"Where?" Maya asked. The girl pointed to a particular spot on the force-field. Maya wheeled over to it, and started checking it over.

"Has anyone seen them?" The guy asked. The girl shook her head.

"It's the strangest thing, Chris..." She muttered "If anyone comes within two miles of us, the bird flies off, and the girl begins to pretend to talk with the hologram people..."  
(Prince Jake...) Ax said hesitantly, now fully demorphed. (Earlier...When the divide was up...I thought I heard Tobias. He said that he and Cassie were outside...) Jake nodded. So. They had heard it to. I had come to the same conclusion as soon as I had heard the words 'Physco Bird'.

"Open a portal." Jake said. The three strangers blinked, and looked at Jake, instead of stealing glances at Ax. "Let us see out...We may know them." He explained.

The girl obliged, 'scratching' her ear again. Suddenly, a 'window' appeared in the swirling white around us. We could see Cassie, way back up the street, preparing for another run at the weak point they had created. It was obvious that the Holo was still up from the look of determination on her face.

"Idiot." Jake whispered "Why hasn't she morphed?"

"Duh..." I whispered back "Where'd you hide a wolf if someone came walking down the street? Besides, sometimes, human is best." Jake nodded.

"So." 'Chris said "Do you know that kid?" He hadn't heard our conversation. Jake nodded.

"Does she know about the Yeerks?"

Another nod.

"Okay." He turned to the girl. "Let her in." The weak point fizzled out and disappeared. Cassie's eyes widened in surprise, and she powered her feet, but her momentum was too great...

(**Cassie**)

(Tobias?) I asked. (Is that you?) I was in Osprey morph, riding up on a thermal. In actual fact, I was drifting towards Rachel's house. I was meant to meet her to go shopping for Christmas, where we would 'accidentally' bump into the others. Tobias had said he might show up, but I doubted it. Christmas and Birthdays just didn't seem all that important to Tobias anymore. His life was all about staying alive now, I guess. I knew he was having trouble finding food, but I didn't offer to help. I knew he would hate that...

But back to the point. I had missed my bus, so I had decided to fly over to Rachel's instead. She usually kept her window open, even in winter, in case Tobias came round. I was about half way there when I heard Tobias shouting about something.

(Errm...Who is that? Cassie?) He sounded flustered.

(Cassie,) I told him. (What's the matter? I heard you shouting...)

(Hey, Cassie...) He muttered (Great. Now she thinks you're mad...)

(Errm...Tobias?) I said uncomfortably (I really didn't hear what you said...)

(Oh! Errm, never mind.) He said hurriedly, sounding relived (But I think Marco, Jake and Ax have trouble...) I looked down. Jake, Marco and the human Ax were chatting to some kids.

(So?) I asked (What's the problem?) Tobias filled me in on the preceding events. (I better demorph...) I said. (We need something to break that force-field...)

(Force-field?) He asked. (Of course! I mean, the Chee always have one round their holograms...why didn't I think of that?)

(Because I'm smarter then you?) I asked, innocently. It's not very often that I say stuff like that. I usually leave it to Rachel and Marco. But Tobias defiantly needed cheering up, and I was the only one to hand.

(Heh, heh, heh...) Tobias replied. (Yeah right. I'm the one who figured out it was a hologram, remember?) I began to descend into an Alleyway so I could demorph.

(Yeah? Well, I'm not the one who flew into a seagull, am I, Mr Lord-Of-The-Air?) There was a pause.

(Oh...I guess you saw that, huh?) I nodded a human head. Unfortunately, the head was still attached to a completely Osprey body. (Oh, that's going to bring on some nightmares...) Tobias groaned. He waited until I was fully human, then spoke again. (And Cassie? Not a word about this to anyone, get it? Not one word.) I just smiled.

(What're you going to morph?) Tobias asked. I considered.

"Actually," I said "I don't think I will. I'll do more damage as a human. Besides, how often do you see a wolf go walking down the street?"

(Alright.) Tobias agreed. (I'll keep a look out up here. Be careful, Cassie.) I nodded, and began to trot round the corner to where the hologram was.

The hologram, that looked to much like real people for my liking, was just down the street. Not quite sure just what I was intending to do, I took a deep breath and began to run down the road, gaining speed as I went along. As I got closer, I had the almost over whelming urge to slow down, stop, and avoid crashing into these people. But I didn't I smacked straight into it, face first. I must have looked like some cartoon character, spread eagled on the wall. The people- Jake, Marco and Ax among them- just carried on talking. Defiantly a hologram, then. I felt my face gingerly. Defiantly a force-field to, and I'd have a black eye in the morning to prove it with.

(Errm...Cassie?) Tobias said, trying not to laugh (It might work better if you used the point of your shoulder. You know, where it starts going into your arm.) I nodded and, humiliated, heading back up the street to try again.

This time I hit the force-field with, as Tobias called it, the point of my shoulder. A slight ripple went though the kids chatting on the road. Not much, just enough for you to wonder if you were seeing things.

"Tobias?" I asked. "Did you see that?"

(Uh-huh.) He said. (Listen, I'm going to try and contact the others. I know they won't answer but...) He let it hang.

"Okay." I said, going back up the street for another run. A few minutes later, Tobias called down to me.

(Cassie, there's some guy coming over...) I was nearly at the hologram. I ran into again, leaning all my weight into my shoulder, and then I stopped. Pretending to be joining in the conversation, I tried my best not to look like a girl out in a leotard and no shoes in the middle of winter.

The man walked by, and I had to suffer the humiliation of a strange glance. The man sped up after that.

And so it went on. Whenever I got tired or out of breath, Tobias took a few quick dives at it. But never for long. We needed an eye in the sky. For a long time, nothing happened. Then, a section suddenly disappeared. Just disappeared. And I could see Ax standing right in front of it, his Andalite self again. With his tail.

"Ahhhh!!!" I yelled, trying to slow down...

(**Ax**)

I had the unfortunate luck of standing in front of the porthole when Cassie came careering towards it. Her momentum was too great to allow her to slow down. Then I realised, with sudden certainness that, unless I reacted quickly, she would be impaled upon my tail.

"Ahhhh!!!" She screamed. I guess she realised as well. At this point, training took over.

Letting my front legs take my weight, and putting my arms out to help my balance, I lifted my back legs off the floor and used my tail to help me swing wildly around.

Cassie tumbled through, falling over but unhurt.

Unfortunately, I had forgotten about Maya.

The girl was behind me. Frantically, I tried to bring my tail higher, but the swing was to far gone. There was nothing I could do.

"Woah!" She cried, as she saw my tail coming for her. She ducked, but her reaction was too slow. I had already gone over her head.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she had been sitting down.

And all that happened in about two seconds. The relief faded, and Pride began to force it's way in. Though I had tried many times, I had never been able to complete that manovere, designed for quick turns in battle, successfully.

Marco would later describe it as 'cool'. I had to agree.

(**Cassie**)

Thank goodness Andalites have such fast reactions. For a moment, I just lay on the floor, amazed at the speed Ax could move at. Amazed I was still alive. Jake came over and gave me a hand up.

"Thanks..." I said, looking around. Ax was looking slightly stunned. So were the boy and the girl who I didn't recognise. The girl in the wheelchair was looking a little shaken. And no wonder. If you'd never seen an Andalite in action before, and then was nearly decapitated by one, you would be a little freaked to. But something bothered me. There wasn't a Chee or any projectors in sight. How was the hologram put up in the first place? I decided to deal with that in a minute.

"Are you alright?" Jake asked me. I nodded, turning instead to Ax.

"Nice reactions, Ax..." I said gratefully. "I'd have a tail-blade through me right now!"

"'Nice'?!" Marco echoed. "That was brilliant!"

(Thank you...) Ax answered, sounding distracted. He turned to the girl in the chair. (Are you okay...Maya?) Before she could answer, Tobias decided to make his entrance.

He flew in fast, Talons racked forward, ready for a fight if needs be. When he saw we were okay, he banked just before he hit the opposite wall and turned easily to land on Ax's shoulder.

"Tobias!" I exclaimed. The Force-field went back up. _No way out..._ I thought.

(See?) He said in private thought-speech (I AM Lord-Of-The-Air!) I gave a mocking bow. He laughed, then spoke so that Ax, Jake and Marco could all hear. (Sooo...What's going on?)

"A bird?" The strange guy exclaimed "This just gets weirder and weirder..."

(Weird?) Tobias said, insulted. The guy jumped. (So says the guy who was talking about Taxxons being in _Star Wars_...)

"Oh, yeah..." Marco said. "About that. I have a newsflash for you. Guess what. There were no Taxxons in _A New Hope_."

"No duh," The girl said, rolling her eyes. "We were just seeing if you guys were the real deal. We didn't want to get the wrong guys..." She turned to Tobias. "Are you an Andalite as well? In morph, I mean?" Tobias glanced at Jake. I saw Jake nod. Apparently, whoever these kids were, we weren't telling them anything just yet.

(Yes.) Tobias answered, simply.

"But then...why did she call you Tobias...?" Then one Ax had called Maya asked. Tobias laughed.

(You want my real name? Do you think the humans could pronounce it in their physical speech?)

"It would be nice to know...if you don't mind, that is..." To his credit, Tobias didn't bat an eye. But I knew he was panicking.

(My name...) He tried to think of one. (...is Toghinanarul-Sirinial-Shamtul.) Then he added, for our ears only, (Sorry, Ax-man. Hope you don't mind.)

(No,) Ax replied. (He was your father. I think...I think he would've been proud.)

Oblivious to their conversation, the guy sighed.

"I guess now we know why you call him Tobias..."

"Now." Jake said. "Why don't we get back to the point? What's going on here?"  
"Yeah, why is she only wearing a swimming costume...?" The girl muttered. Blushing, I pretended not to hear.

"Alright!" The guy said. "I think we owe you that."

(Yes, you do.) Ax said icily.

"But first..." The guy began.

"Uh-uh." Marco shook his head. "No more 'but firsts'. We've waited long enough. You're going to explain to us, NOW." I had heard him angry before, but never this..._forceful_. I glanced at him. "I'm having a bad day..." He shrugged.

"I just wanted to know if there were any _more_ of you that know about the Yeerks around here." The guy said defensively. "We don't want to have to explain it all twice..." We all looked at Jake.

"Okay." He said, reluctantly. "But _we'll _fetch her, not you guys." It was obvious that none of us trusted this strange threesome one bit...

A/N: Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'll explain everything in the next chapter, I SWEAR!! And Rachel will be in it to, I promise! And some intresting stuff will happen to!!! Honest!! This one was just becoming too drawn out and tedious...Listen, 'cause I'm going to go and upload this now, Check out 8-bit Theatre, see if there's any new comics up, then I've gotta go and exercise, but after I'll come straight back and type the next chapter okay? This was a bad chapter I know, so you really don't have to review...(_Hangs head in shame over pathetic chapter)_


	5. Five: It's RACHEL!

A/N: I left an hour ago, now I'm back to at least begin a new chapter. Do you know the last chapter took me 4 ½ hours to write! _(Collapses_ _from exhaustion) _It's strange, cause usually it only takes me an hour to knock up a decent-lengthed chapter. Oh well, you know I love it! No reviews yet though, but I'll respond to any I get at the end, okay? And now (Finally) Rachel shall have a chapter!

Five: It's Rachel! (**Rachel**)

Cassie was late.

Hence, I was in a bad mood. I'm not the most patient of people.

I had waited at the bus stop for her, and when it had come Cassie wasn't on it. I went back to my house, figuring she had missed the bus. There wasn't another one for an hour, so I thought she would walk. Or fly.

So I was sitting in my bedroom, waiting. And I was freezing, due to the fact that my window was open. To top it all off, it was just starting to snow.

Now, I've nothing against snow. I think it's pretty. Beautiful, even. But you try sitting in your room with snow and cold wind blowing about in there. You try not being grumpy.

Suddenly, my door blew open, and Sara tumbled into my room. She jumped on top of me, and started chanting.

"It's snowing, it's snowing, it's snowing!" She yelled happily. (A/N: Who's got younger siblings? We've all been there... )

"Yeah, I know." I said. "It's just _wonderful_. Now get off me." Sara scrambled off.

"Rachel! Me and Jordan are going to go and build a Snowman!"

"Really? Good for you." Sara giggled.

"You're coming to, stupid..." She said.

"Sorry. I can't." Cue the puppy-dogs eyes.

"Please?" She whined.

"Uh-uh. Not going to work." I said. "I'm going out with Cassie."

"You like Cassie better then me." She scowled.

"No, but I will in a minute." Glancing out the window, I spotted a familiar silhouette on the horizon. I smiled, knowing that even from that far away he'd see. "Get out my room."

"You're so mean, you meanie!!" Sara screamed. Then she started to look really hurt...

Now, everyone thinks I'm tough. Marco calls me Xena: Warrior Princess. And maybe it's true to some extent. But no-one, and I mean no-one, can leave Sara looking like that.

"Hey." I said. "I can't come, but I'll lend you some clothes for your Snowman. Make that Snow_woman_." I corrected. Sara immediately perked up.

"Really?" She grinned. "You will?"

"Yep. You'll have the best dressed Snow-person in the park."

"Yay!" I went to my dresser. I pulled out an old top and a skirt that were about six sizes to small, and several years out of date. But Sara didn't know that... I gave Sara the clothes that I had kept especially for Snowmen. She left.

Tobias came closer, but I mouthed at him to stop. _Wait._ I said. Sure enough, a moment later my door was pushed open. Jordan burst into the room extremely annoyed.

"I don't know how you got out of it, Rachel," She said "But next time _you're _taking Sara."

"Yeah right."

"You can't get away with distracting her with clothes forever!"

"Don't bet on it." Jordan howled in frustration, and stormed out the room. I couldn't resist a final jibe.

"Oh, and Jordan..." I shouted.

"What?!" She yelled, looking around my door.

"Make sure you bring my clothes back." I slammed the door, and locked it. Laughing, I turned to the window and watched Tobias breeze through.

(Finally.) He moaned. (I thought they'd never leave!)

"Ohh..." I said. "What's up with you? Where's your Christmas spirit?"

(I'm afraid I seem to have lost since I began to sleep in a tree.) He said sarcastically.

"Scrooge."

(Hey, you try flying through snow.) He flapped his wings trying to get the snow out of his feathers.

"I think I'll pass." My grumpiness had vanished. Perhaps it was getting one over on my sisters.

Or maybe it was because Tobias was here.

"Have you seen Cassie?" I asked "We were meant to go shopping..."  
(Rachel, we haven't got time!) Tobias yelled. I blinked. Tobias doesn't shout all that often.

(Sorry.) He said. (Listen, I was watching Jake, Marco and Ax, then these kids came along talking about the Taxxons in _Star Wars_, then they were in a hologram and Cassie showed up, so we tried to break the hologram and there these kids and I had to pretend to be an Andalite and-)

"Woah! Slow down!" I yelled. "Slow down, and tell me what happened."

(Sorry.) Tobias said again. (Rachel...Jake said to tell you that...we found NewKid.)

I stared.

"You did?"

(That's what he said.) He said helplessly (I know no more then you do, not really. They wanted you to come before they explained.)

"So I've missed everything..." I moaned "Great." I began to morph my own bird morph, the Bald Eagle.

(Rachel...I think you better walk.) I reversed the morph.

"What?"

(It's not far, and I can hardly fly in these conditions. No offence, but I fly a whole lot better then you.) I didn't deny it. Tobias can just about out-class everything else in the air. (Besides that,) He continued (We've already got Cassie walking round in a leotard. We can't really get any weirder.) Sighing, I bent down and pulled out a large cardboard box. In it were clothes. Lots of clothes.

(You mind telling me what you're doing?) Tobias asked. I indicated the box.

"Cassie needs clothes, right? Well, I have clothes. Clothes and flip-flops, to be precise."

(Rachel...Are you telling me you have clothes for all of us in that box?) I nodded.

"There's ones just like this at Cassie's barn, that Alleyway opposite the Supermarket, behind the dustbins, and round at Ax's place."

(Rachel, you never cease to amaze me.) He said, laughing. (C'mon, we gotta go.) I grabbed a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and some cheapo flip-flops out of the box for Cassie, shoving them in a carrier bag. There were similar things for all the others. We'd really have to deal with this no-morphing-outer-clothing thing. I pulled on a coat and some boots, and I was ready to go.

"Need a ride?" I asked Tobias. He hopped on my shoulder.

(Thanks.) He said. (I'd never fly through this...) He was referring to the blizzard that was really starting to get going outside.

We got downstairs, and I opened the front door. My face was instantly treated to a natural ice-pack.

"Oh, this is so _not _going to be fun..." I groaned, grabbing my keys and diving out into the barrage of swirling white.

Tobias told me that the hologram- and the others were just on the next block. (A/N: Or maybe the one after the next block, I don't know, How big is a block? Anyhoo, it doesn't matter.) It wasn't too far then. Though in this weather, who knew how long it would take?

Suddenly, I stopped. I looked up at the sky, and at the white flakes. Each one was unique, and yet so fragile. _Like the human race, _I thought. What would happen if the Yeerks got hold of Earth? Well, they'd be no more Christmas, that's for sure.

(Rachel, what are you DOING?!) Tobias asked. Asked loudly, shaking me from my stupor. (Can we move please? I'm freezing my tail feathers off here!) Poor Tobias. He only had feathers. I trudged on again, wishing I had a hat.

We got to the Hologram. At least, Tobias said it was a hologram.

"Well?" I asked.

(Well what?) He asked, grumpily.

"Well, how do we get in?" I clarified.

(Oh, well...I guess we knock.)

"Knock?"

(Well, whatever you're going to do, do it fast- before I resemble a frozen turkey and Marco decides to defrost me and eat me for Christmas dinner.) My teeth were chattering without the added warmth of movement. At that point, I was willing to try anything. I knocked on one 'Person's' head. Marco's. To my surprise, the hologram opened up, and Tobias and I stepped in. Into the hologram. Into the unknown. Still, at least it wasn't snowing.

"Oh, you're here." Marco greeted us lazily. "We were beginning to wonder if you had got lost. Who would have thought, Xena, last to the action? Oh, and Bird-boy's here to. I thought we could defrost him and have him for Christmas dinner. Oh well."

(Told ya.)

"Finished?" I asked Marco.

"Nearly. But first, I have something to ask..."

"What?" I said wearily, bunging the carrier to Cassie. "Clothes." I grunted.

"How, _how_, have you managed to walk through a blizzard, and still come out looking like _that_?!"

I laughed, taking it as a compliment. "Now that would be telling," I said.

"I just remembered something!" Marco yelled "Ax-man! You owe me ten dollars!! I told you she'd still look perfect."

(Well,) Ax grumbled, sounding annoyed (How was I to know? It's not at all logical that she could-)

"Could we _focus _here, people?" Jake asked, like he always does. "Rachel, this is Chris, Meg and Maya- otherwise known as NewKid."

"Hi." I said, not looking at them. "Would someone mind telling me what's going on?"

"We need to get somewhere safe first." One of the girls said- either Maya or Meg. "This hologram isn't going to last much longer..." The guy- Chris, presumably- turned to the other girl, the one in the wheelchair.

"Maya?" He said "Can't you do something with it?" He sounded tired, kinda like Jake always does. Maya shook her head.

"Now, I can do just about anything with anything," She said "But I know _nothing_ about holograms."

"Okay..." Chris said. He thought, then continued. "We'll give you guys Cissie's address. She'll explain everything."

"Uh-uh. No." Jake said "_You _explain. We're not going to be passed around like some parcel." The guy looked like he was going to argue, but then nodded.

"Okay." He agreed, smiling wickedly "But we've got a long way to go..." He pulled out a mobile, and dialled a number. We watched.

"Hello?" He said. "Lizzie, is that you? Look, go and get one of the twins. I don't care. Yes, of course. Look, just go and find them, okay? Good girl." He rolled his eyes at Maya and Meg. Presumably this was a usual conversation. Then someone must have come to the other end, because he started talking again. "Hello? Which is that? Oh, it's you Simone...I can never tell...Listen, we need a ride home. Yep. It's quite a big job today. Errm..." Here he did a quick count. "Six of them, plus the two of us...Yeah, I said it was a lot. Look, do you need to do it in two goes? No? You sure? Good. See you in a minute then. Yeah. Oh, and don't leave us in the hall again...of course I trust you. Man! Yeah. Bye."

"Now what?" I asked. As I said before, I'm not the most patient of people.

"Now we wait." Maya grinned "Don't worry, it won't be long."

"I'm putting the hologram down now." Meg announced. "I guess I'll see you guys around."

"Okay." Maya said. "Keep looking into Visser 12, will you? We haven't got him yet."

"I will." She promised. "See ya." She left.

"Wait, she's not coming?" Marco asked. "Sad. She was pretty. And she _so _liked me."  
"Liked you?" I asked "I doubt she could even _see _you, shrimp-boy." He clutched his chest.

"Oh, Xena, your words are like arrows in my h-"He didn't finish his sentence, because at that point the world began to swirl around me.

A/N: Oh, feel the power of the Cliffe!! MWHAHAHAHA!! Anyway, two of these things in one day! Wohoo! Well, you can't say I'm not dedicated...I spew them out like a machine gun! I've just thought...I'm writing a fic set at Christmas-time in the middle of summer. Ah well.

East Coast Rider: Ya know, you're the first reviewer to call me 'Waffles'. At school and church it's been shortened before, but never on ... There is a story behind my name, and surprisingly it has nothing to do with my tendency to ramble on. But that's a long and boring story, so I won't bother telling you. Well, maybe not that boring...perhaps I'll tell you someday...Anyway, I'm sorry about the split POV's. But, see, I had to tell you what was going on with Tobias and Cassie, and who else could tell you about that funky little manovere? Anyway, I'm glad you liked it, because I thought 'Twas lame! _(Does Happy Dance_)

KP: _(Faints with relief over not having offended anyone_) Phew!

East Coast Rider, KP, thank you for reviewing so often. It's nice to know people come back to read the updates! It makes all the effort worthwhile! I'll try and get another chapter up tomorrow, okay?


	6. Six: Wow, it's almost like the plot is m...

A/N: _(Yawns_) It's 8:20 AM, and I'm back here to write another chappie. I can't get dressed yet, because my sister's still asleep in our room (I have to share with two sisters...well, one's up...) so I thought: You said you'd do another chapter today...Why not? I've only been up an hour, and I'm back. At this rate I'm going to exhaust myself. Plus, I got a review for 'Ramblings' the last night, so I may need to write some on that...(It's actually quite funny, see it's HP and they all switch genders and Ron's the only one that knows...)

East Coast Rider: Another day, another chapter...Glad you're enjoying it, though. Do you have an account? I searched for you but it didn't find anything.

Korean Pearl: What are you suggesting...Maya/Marco? Maybe. I thought I might put a bit of romance in, but I had a different paring. Anyway, I've never written any romance before- I'd probably screw it up. I've only read 'The Shrink'. I think I must go and read The Healing. I'll upload this, and then I'll take a look. Watch out for reviews.

Anonymous-Cat: _(Hits head off wall) _Darrrr!! The memory like a sieve strikes again!! It's hard to put in technical details when you write in 1st person. See, the idea was that **Ax re-morphs while Tobias was getting Rachel**, but I didn't want another split POV account, and I just checked the last chapter and realised I'd kept him talking in thought-speech, so I can see how that could've been confusing. I should have put 'Ax was there, in his human morph', shouldn't I? Ah well. Another observant reviewer! You, to, win a WAFFLE!! _(Gives Waffle to Anonymous-cat) _You're also another one of my constant reviewers, thank you! This one, as you inspired the title, is dedicated to you!

Yes, that's right! Notice a mistake in my writing and win a Luke-warm waffle!! (Just like mom used to make!) Disclaimer: Name says it all, doesn't it?

Six: Wow, it's almost like the plot is moving now! (**Maya**)

The world stopped spinning, and we landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. Well, they all did. I was the only one still upright. I guess the twins are just extra careful with me. We'd had my wheel-chair overturn on me before.

I still had the bruises.

The others were slowly clambering to their feet. The six we picked up were looking especially dazed. The one they called Ax seemed to be finding it hard to stand up. Maybe he wasn't used to only having two legs. He managed to get part way up, but just fell over again, face down in the mud.

"Well, this is inconvenient." He said, voice muffled by the grass. Then he proceeded to take the word 'inconvenient' and rearrange all the syllables. Two of his friends- Jake and Rachel- pulled him up.

Jake, Rachel, Cassie, Marco, Tobias and Ax. 6 of them. A group.

_Six of them? _I thought _Hmm, I wonder..._

"Where the hec are we?!" Marco asked.

"You're in Hereford-and-Worcester, about an hours drive outside Birmingham." I informed him. They all blinked at me. Then the penny dropped.

"That means we're in England, right?" Cassie asked.

"Well, they know their geography." Chris said wryly.

"Uh-huh." I agreed.

"Well, nothing like a little jump over the Atlantic Ocean before lunch." Marco said, clapping his hands. "Well, is there any point in asking _how _you did that?"

"Nnnope."

"I didn't think so."

"Alright," Rachel said "We're here. Not quite sure how we're here, but we are. Now what?"

"Now we go inside." I replied, pointing at the dilapidated farm behind them.

We headed straight for the small, tumble down cottage. We didn't live there. We all slummed it together in the stables, now devoid of horses. Instead we used the four-roomed, one story building as a centre of operations. That is where we took the newcomers. Well, I say 'we'. Chris peeled off to go and check on the others. The little kids. Some of them were barely five. We walked along in silence.

"So." I said "Are you guys really human, or are you all Andalites to?" No-one answered. They all glanced at Jake. Apparently he was in charge. He stiffened momentarily, then relaxed.

"We're humans." He said. "But we're not exactly normal. We'll tell you our story if and when you tell us yours."  
I shrugged. "Fair enough." _My story? _I thought _You want my story? Fine. I'll tell you. I'll tell you my story. I'll depict, in graphic detail, 6 years of slavery. I'll tell you how they left me to die. I'll leave nothing out. Clean, un-edited, un-censored, un-cut. See if you're that keen to know then._

I shoved on the door. It didn't open. It must have been bolted from the inside. So I knocked.

"Hey!" I yelled "It's Maya! Open the door!" A few seconds later, the door opened. Sierra stood there, looking worn out but happy. She didn't waste time with hellos; she just smiled and turned around to walk back inside.

"HOLY-" Marco began. I smiled wickedly at him.

"What's the matter, Marco?" I asked sweetly.

"HELLO?! The girl has honest-freaking-wings! Wings!" It was true, Sierra did have wings. However, They were similar to a bats wing, but bigger. They were folded down as much as they could go, almost flat on her back, but we still had to make slits in all her clothes. It was actually kind of a nuisance.

I nodded.

"She was one of the first people to meet the Yeerks," I explained. "See, the Yeerks sent scouts down to check out Earth, one each in several different countries. In there case, Spain." I wheeled round to face them. "Well, they have a very reaction to twins then we do-"  
"We know..." Rachel muttered darkly. I ignored her.

"And when they found that Simone- you'll meet her in a minute- and Sierra were twins, well, they started to... experiment. They wanted to make the ultimate hosts. It was going on all over the world."  
"Yes, that is their usual pattern." Ax commented. "Pat. Turn. Ppppa-Tuh-nun."

"Do you ever get used to that?" I asked, a little-wierded out by Ax's bizarre noises.

"Eventually." Cassie sighed.

"Anyway, they didn't succeed. They decided just to keep us as we are."

"Joy." Marco said dryly.

"There's a few of us from the start. Chris is an Elf/Human hybrid."

"Elves don't exist..." Rachel said uncertainly.

"That's why it _failed_. Duh."

"You know," Marco said "That makes a twisted kind of sense..." We entered the cottage. Simone, to, only glanced up as we entered. They stared at her, and the wings on her back to. Snowy owl wings, this time.

"We've got news on Sub-Visser ten." She informed me.

"Ten? Isn't he the one still in the Gedd?" I asked.

"The very one." She confirmed. "Anyway, he's trying to get one over on V14."

"As in what? Is he usurping or sabotaging?"

"He's a smart one. He's sabotaging."

"Is that good for us, or bad for us?"

"Bad. If SV10 gets this project..." Sierra said. "Well, he just wants the power. He'll just infest everyone in town in one go!" I swore.

"Get a message to the Chee. They can tell their Visser." I said. Simone nodded.

"I'll get James to go." She said. "He knows the way." She left the room. I turned to Sierra.

"Tell me there's nothing else..." I begged.

"Just one thing." She replied. "You know Mr Jones from Meadowview Road? We think he may be a controller. We need to check it out."

I looked at my watch. "Now? We've got time."  
"Let's go." She agreed. Behind me there came a small cough.

"You know, we are still standing here." Marco said. I had forgotten all about them.

"I suppose you want me to explain..." I sighed.

"That would be nice." Jake said, icily.

"Where should I start?" I asked.

"Start at the beginning." He said firmly.

So I told them. But I didn't quite start at the beginning. I started at the day the four of us decided to do something about the Yeerks. I told them how we had found this farm, desolate and unused, and how we had taken up residence there. How we had used the site the same way the Yeerks had, to track down those who knew about them. How, gradually, our numbers grew.

Then I told them when we decided to start fighting back. How we had begun to sneak in and sabotage instruments and experiments. How we had met a small number of Chee living over here.

But that was all the past. I told them how nearly a year ago, we were too many to stay in one place. How so many people came from America, we set up a group over there. The one Cissie ran. I told them how we had begun to make a list of the Vissers and Sub-Vissers, get their photos and details.

I even told them how we were hoping to find the Andalites, though I was beginning to suspect we already had...

But I never told them about how we all met.

(Just one question.) Ax asked. He had de-morphed part way through. That was distracting, I can tell you...(What did you do to us inside that hologram?)

"Did you see the divide down the middle?" I asked. He nodded. "Well, before that went up, we placed a pump on your side. The divide then went up, to protect us- because then we just pumped some mild sedative into the section. It was all calculated very carefully before hand." I assured them hesitantly. "But obviously I didn't put the full amount in..." I didn't like sedating people. Taking them from their right minds...

(Why did you do that?) He asked (What could you achieve by sedating us? And what were the headsets for?)

"That's more then one question..." I teased, but answered anyway. "Would you just have stood there if we hadn't used the sedative?" I asked. "I don't like doing it either, but it's the only way. The headsets...they were just X-ray. To check for Yeerks."

(And the whole _Star Wars_/Taxxon thing?) The bird, Tobias probed. He didn't sound like an Andalite to me...

"Just to check these guys knew about the Yeerks." I replied. "We didn't want to go setting up a hologram around someone who had never even seen the films, yet alone knew about the Yeerks." They seemed satisfied, but no-one said anything.

"How many of you are there?" Jake asked quietly.

"There's 45 of us here." I said, trying to remember "51, with you guys. There's a small group of 9 over in Spain. Another 20 dotted about over various places in Europe and Asia- but mainly in Japan and Hong Kong. There's another 5 in Germany. Then there's 35 in North America, and 10 in the South- mainly in Brazil. Especially in and around the Amazon Rainforest. It seems to be that a bug fighter crashed there a while back."

"I wonder why it crashed there..." Jake said nervously.

"Hmm..." I muttered.

"130 members in all. You've gone up in number since last time we heard of you. Even including us." Marco said, quickly adding up. I nodded. He gave a low whistle. "130...That's a lot of members."

"Not really." I replied absently. "Not when you think that's us, World Wide."

"But it's better then nothing." Cassie commented. I looked down, frowning, remembering a conversation I had a long time ago. Then I smiled, and much to my own surprise, I began to laugh.

"Yes." I chuckled "Defiantly better then nothing, Cassie, defiantly better then nothing."

A/N: Well, that's an Animorphs style ending if ever I've written one. It almost feels like the fic is finished...but it's not! I'll try and update again either today or tomorrow, make the most of the time I've got left. Tune in next time for the seventh instalment of We're Not Alone!


	7. Seven: A thing of beauty

A/N: I'm Backkk... Sorry there was no update yesterday, but we were really busy. We were out most of the day, and then my little sister left an Animorphs out on the sofa...I couldn't resist! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!! FUUUUUTILLLEEEE!!! Futile, I say! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!! (Well, I'm not...but there you go.) And I just want to say that it is really _stinky_ over here cause they published The Hork-Bajir Chronicles, The Andalite Chronicles, In The Time of the Dinosaurs, The Andalite's Gift and No's 1-29. Then they stopped for a while. Then they printed numbers 32, 34, 35 and numbers 41, 42 and 45. Then they printed numbers 53 and 54. So excuse me if there's some...gaps...in my knowledge, or if I'm nicking ideas from later books. I didn't know!!

KP: I got your reviews for Ramblings. I'm glad you liked it. Update soon? Well, I'm kinda concentrating on this one at the moment...And I have serious Writer's Block on Ramblings! Mersang's given me an idea..._(Cracks up_) It's hilarious, but it's not enough to fill an entire chapter. I had read 'The Shrink' before. I've started reading Nadar Chronicles II, but I'm really thinking that I should read number one... What do you think? Stitches in your mouth? Ow...Hope they come out soon! And I'll try not to be so Hilarious.

East Coast Rider: I found you! I started reading 'It's fun to stay at the Y...' That's YMCA, right? Anyway, I'm waiting for your update... Errm...I don't know what else to say. I added a 'Day in the life of Me' section to my bio...Oh! Can I be in your club? Please?!

Anonymous-cat: Is that what happened to Maya? I hate to say it, but...all will be revealed? All will be revealed in Chapter 8? I've never heard of that book...I'll keep an eye out for it though, it sounds cool! I have read a book called 'When the Wind Blows' written by Raymond Briggs. Well, I say 'written'. It's more like 'drawn', as he does picture books. Any way, it's about an old couple that survive a nuclear bomb but get killed by the radiation. It's sad. And kinda gross in places. This from the guy that created 'The Snowman'...

By the way, I have no idea what the time difference is between here and America. Just go with it, okay?

Seven: A thing of Beauty. (**Marco**)

Maya, with a little help from Sierra and Simone, told us everything.

And there were a whole lot of free humans who knew about the Yeerks.

"So." She finished. "I've told you our story. Now let's hear yours." I wondered if we should tell her. How much did we actually know about these kids? Jake looked round at us. Rachel rolled her eyes and made a little waving hand gesture, like 'Go on'. He looked at Cassie. In this situation, what she thought was most likely right. She sent him a look that seemed to say 'We can trust them.'. Ax, as always, kept his face carefully unscrutable.

Tobias sent his 'look' via private thought speech. (I'll have to go with Cassie on this,) He said. (I have a good feeling about this place...) Me, I thought all this silent conferring was a bit dumb. So I voiced my thoughts aloud.

"We've walked into so many traps." I sighed "What difference will one more make? Plus we've already revealed Tobias and the Ax-man. We might as well."

"Okay." Jake said to the girls, who had been patiently waiting. "We'll tell you. We're humans. But we have Andalite morphing capabilities." He spread his arms wide. "We're your Andalite Bandits." Silence.

"I knew it!" Maya breathed.

"I think," Sierra said, slowly "I'd better go get Chris. I've a feeling he'll want to hear this..."

We told them everything. Nearly. We didn't say anything about mom. We edited out the bits that mentioned that I was related to Visser One's host. Anyway, as the story went on, different people faded out and others took over. We ended up telling not just about what we were, but detailing every mission we'd done. They laughed when we mentioned Visser Three bathing in grape juice. They laughed at my impersonations of the Helmacrons. And on more then one occasion, I heard them gasp.

But they didn't say a word.

They didn't comment, or say we were crazy. They didn't ask any questions, either. They just listened.

It was past midnight when we finished. I hadn't realised there had been so many missions, so many disasters. When we finished, the room felt silent and empty, we'd been talking so long. We'd been lost in memory, and, trust me, I'd rather get lost in a strange, dark, woods on a full moon night then in our memories.

"Wow." Maya said silently. Strange how that one word summed up everything we'd told them in the last couple of hours.

"Well," I said "Now that we all know each other, what next?"

"Now?" Chris asked. "Now we talk business." Jake nodded.

"Yes. We need to figure out where we go from here." He agreed. Chris rubbed his hands across his drawn face.

"The way I see it..." He began hesitantly. It was obvious that whatever he was going to say was going to change everything. "We need to know what the other is doing. We need to work together." He looked up from the tabletop that had so far captivated his attention. "We need an Allegiance."

Woah. He liked to things properly. This wasn't like the Chee- ask their advice and if they say no do it without them- this was a full out You-scratch-my-back, I'll-scratch-yours situation. I wondered if it could work. If we could make it work. I knew that if one group could easily mess up the other group's plans. But to be honest, I didn't like the idea much. I liked us being independent. But then again, it could be very useful to have a small army at our disposal...

This was Jake's choice. There would be no voting this time. This decision needed to be made here and now. To be honest, even if we had voted, I don't know whether I'd go yes or no. On the one hand, I liked our group as it was. But, realistically, I knew I could like it all I wanted, but numbers are invaluable in war. And how much difference would it make to us? We'd probably never see them until they needed us, or vice versa. It could be a very useful thing. I could see the same things going through the minds of the others. But who knew if they drew the same conclusion?

"Okay." Jake said, looking up from the floor. They shook.

"Maybe we should salute or something." I said in a loud stage whisper. The others laughed half-heartedly. Maya stretched.

"Okay, if all the life-changing decisions are done for tonight," Maya began "I think I'll hit the sack." The twins looked at us.

"Sorry guys." Simone said- I recognised her by the owl wings- "I don't think that we'll be able to get you home tonight. We can't do another warp of that size today...we don't have the energy."

"Do you mind stopping here tonight?" Sierra asked. To be honest, I didn't really care where I slept. I was oddly tired, even though usually staying up till 12:30 wasn't a problem. Just then, Rachel's phone started going. She answered.

"Hello? Oh, mom, it's you. I'm fine..." She cast around looking for an excuse. "Don't you remember me telling you? Cassie and I are round at Susan's."

"Susan?" Cassie asked "She doesn't even know I exist!" Rachel motioned to her to sush.

"I so did tell you!" She cried. "Well, I don't know why Cassie didn't tell her parents. Yeah, she's right here. Well, phone them back and say she's fine. Duh. What? Why? Mom, you can't ground me just because you forgot!"

"Rachel's in trouble!" I gloated.

"No, Marco is NOT here." She sent death glares at me "You need to get yours ears checked. They're missing?" She glanced at Jake and me "Where are they?"

"If they knew that then we wouldn't be missing..." I muttered.

"No, I don't know where they are. Uh-huh. Yep. I won't. I will mom...look, I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Right." She rolled her eyes and mouthed 'Shut up!' "_Bye, _mom." She hung up. Then, as an afterthought, turned it off.

"Okay, we're all missing." She said. "Cassie and I are round at Susan's." She laughed. "Good job I realised Cassie's parents would phone round. I about to say I was spending the night there. As for you guys..." She looked at me and Jake "You guys are on your own."

"Why would your mom be phoning at this time?" Cassie asked. It was Ax who figured it out.

(Different Time Zones.) He said, matter-of-factly. (It may still only be early evening in America.)

"That must be why I feel so tired..." Cassie yawned. "Jet lag."

"More like warp lag..." I joked. "I mean, I don't think there was a jet involved." No-one laughed. I guess it wasn't that funny.

I was the first one awake next morning. Maya had shown us all to an empty stall. She had explained that boys and girls were usually separate, but this would do for now. There were no beds, just pillows and blankets on the floor. Although I had seen one bed in the first stall we went past. Presumably that was for her. I guess it's kinda hard to lie on the floor when you can't move your legs. If that's what was wrong with her. It's not something you ask, is it?

We had just crashed onto the floor, when something had occurred to me. I may have been more tired then I ever had been before, but I couldn't resist.

"Hey," I said sleepily "I'm sharing a room with my best friend's girlfriend and her best friend. I always knew I'd end up here. Never thought said best friend would be present, though."

"SHUT. UP." Three grumpy voices around me said. Ax and Tobias had chosen to sleep outside.

"Fine." I said, and even though it wasn't the slightest bit comfortable on the floor, I fell asleep instantly.

So there I was. Lying awake in the eerie twilight of dawn. I looked at Jake's watch, still on his arm, poking out from under the blanket. No go. It was still running on American time.

I pulled myself up, just wanting to move. I was still in the clothes I'd been wearing the night before. Oh well.

As I passed the stalls I noted that many of the blankets and pillows had been abandoned. Maybe it wasn't as early as I thought.

I left the stable and looked around. Fields everywhere around. I could hear birds singing. No sounds of traffic. And these wild flowers all around.

I knew I should find it beautiful. I knew Cassie would love it. But I guess I'm more a city kinda guy. Cars, restaurants, drunks a few streets away...That's where I was meant to be. In a few years, who knew? Maybe I could be one of those drunks. I think after all we'd been through, I had more right to drink then any of them.

"Ahhh!" I yelled, as I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around. "Ax, don't do that!"

(Sorry. I was merely trying to get your attention.)

"Well, you certainly did that, Ax-man." I sighed. "So what you up to? Getting breakfast?" He nodded, a gesture he had picked up on since his time on Earth.

(Yes. The grass is very good here. I wonder why...) I shrugged.

"Maybe it's from the crops and stuff they used to grow here." I said "The land must be fertile. So, where's Tobias? Out hunting."

(He is sleeping.) Ax replied. (I didn't wake him. He seemed very tired.)

"That'll be the time-zone change." I said "Hey. Why hasn't it affected you?"

(I believe it has effected me in a different way.) He replied, grinding a hoof into the soil. (I think my internal clock may be anywhere up to a minute inaccurate.)

"Yeah, it's hard a really bad effect on you." I snapped, still tired.

(Yes.) He replied, not realising I was being sarcastic. I guess his Stalk-eyes must have seen something behind him, because his main eyes suddenly widened and he ran off to hide behind the barn.

I started to morph Gorilla, all the time searching for what had spooked Ax. It had been a trap after all! And my friends were still asleep.

Then I saw the danger.

It wasn't Hork-Bajir or Taxxons.

It wasn't even Gedds.

It was a troop of four little kids, none of them more then five years old. I let the morph go.

"Have you seen Ax?" One girl asked.

"She means Axi- Axey-"The boy clarified, stumbling on the name.

"I know who she meant..." I replied, wondering what the hec was going on.

(Do not tell them where I am!) Ax said urgently.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled.

"We're looking for him." A third kid said slowly, to make sure she got through.

(We are playing Hide-and-Seek.) Ax responded from some unknown location (I believe the goal is to remain hidden?) I laughed, and then bent down to speak to the kids.

"I'm looking for someone to," I told them "If you tell me where they are, I'll tell you where Ax is." They nodded eagerly "Okay. I'm looking for Chris, Maya, and the Twins. Do you know where they are?"  
"They're in the house." A forth kid piped up, pointing at the farm house we'd been in the night before. "Now, where is he?!" She demanded.

"Ax is very good at hiding..." I said. "But I think he's over there somewhere." I pointed towards a tree that I could just make out Tobias perching in. They ran off. I'd sent the Bird-Boy a wake up call in the form of a bunch of screaming kids. Laughing, I set off towards the house.

I reached the cottage just as Chris was leaving it.

"Morning." He smiled.  
"Hey." I replied "Where you going?"

"Work." He grimaced "Most of the kids do paper rounds, but...someone's gotta bring some money in. And I'm the only one old enough for a full-time job, worse luck. Anyway, gotta go." I walked into the house, glancing up at the clock above the wall. 7:00 am. I had never known this hour had actually existed. Maya was working on something at the table. She smiled as I entered.

"Why does he leave so early?" I asked, by way of greeting.

"It's a fair walk to the nearest town, you know."

"Why don't the twins just warp him there?" I pointed out. She shrugged.

"He won't let them. Moron." Just then, the two girls entered from some other room.

"Hey, we don't have unlimited power you know." Simone griped.

"Yeah, you guys don't appreciate how hard it is." Sierra added.

"We're not your slaves! Oh, warp this, warp that, we don't matter because we're mutants..." Simone continued. Maya punched her playfully on the arm.

"Yeah, yeah, it's a tragedy." She quipped, rolling her eyes. "Do you two actually want something, or are you just hanging around?"

"Hey!" Sierra faked injured feelings again. "I'm a heckler. Hence, I heckle."

"And I'm just here to fill space." Simone added "I'm a space filler."

"Uh-huh. Look, just shut up, okay?" I decided to break into the conversation.

"So, what do you guys do all day?" I asked them.

"Well, we keep tabs on the Yeerks movement, try and see what they're up to..." Maya said "And we try to figure out who's a controller. And, when we have to, we go and trash whatever it is they're doing." It sounded like a full time job.

"What are you doing today?" I asked. "Busting into a Yeerk pool? Trashing some mission? What?" Maya laughed.

"Actually, I'm just going to try and teach those little kids to read." She giggled. "Sorry to disappoint you, but someone's gotta do it."

"Oh." I said. Looked like I was in for a boring day. Or at least morning. We couldn't warp till the others woke up. I guess it showed on my face, because they cracked up again.

"Tell you what, Marco." Sierra said, when they'd recovered. "We're going to go and check out some guy's house- we think he may be a controller. Do you wanna come?"

"It won't involve running for my life, will it?" I replied suspiciously.

"Nope." Simone said "You forget- we can't morph out of injuries." I had nothing better to do, so I decided to go with them.

Half an hour and one warp later, we were hanging around on a corner, trying not to look like we were checking out the house. Which we were.

"I could go insect, and get the door from the inside..." I said doubtfully "But that would men demorphing in some controller's hallway. Not a good idea."

"Marco, you have no faith." One of them said. They were both wearing thick jackets to hide their wings, so I couldn't tell the difference any more.

"Yeah, just watch and learn." The other said, hoisting her shoulder bag higher up her arm. She walked towards the house we were trying to look at without looking like we were looking at it. She stopped at the door, pulled a cap out of the bag and once it was firmly on her head, she waved to us.

"Let's get a little closer, so we can see." The twin whispered in my ear. We crossed the road and hid in the bushes next door. "This is Simone's speciality. Simple, but brilliant. A thing of beauty." The twin I could now identify as Sierra continued.

Simone motioned to us to be quiet, and rang the bell. A few minutes later, it opened a crack, on one of those chain things.

"Yes?" A mans voice asked. Simone pulled out a note and and a square box. I'd had enough take-away to know what it was.

"A pizza?!" I asked.

"Sssh..." Sierra hissed "And watch a master at work."

"I've got a pizza here for a Mr...Jones?" She said, looking up from the note.

"At half past seven in the morning?" He asked suspiciously.

"Look, don't ask me, I just deliver them." She pouted.

"But I didn't order any Pizza!" He sounded upset.

"Look, I'm just doing my job." She pointed at the pizza "Now, I've got a pizza for this address, and if I don't deliver within half an hour, then I don't get paid."

"I'm telling you, I didn't order any!" Simone shrugged. Her act was perfect. The attitude, the drawl, everything was spot on.

"Well, maybe someone ordered it for you." She tutted, like she was having some major inconvenience. "I think it came with a message..."  
"What message?" The door, that had almost been slammed, opened a millimetre more.

"I dunno." She shrugged again "I've got it written down somewhere...hold this while I get it out." The man decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Okay. Pass it through the crack."

"Dude! This is a family sized pizza!" Simone said, sounding scandalized. "No way it's going through there!"

"Turn it on it's side, then." He sighed impatiently. I have to admit, Simone thought fast.

"I can't do that! It'll all stick to the lid. Besides, I can't see you through there. And I have to put it in your hand or-"

"You don't get paid." The man completed wearily. "Alright." He opened the door properly, and we could see a balding, middle aged man, still in his dressing gown. "What's the message?"

"Hold this." Simone said, shoving the pizza into his hands. She dug through her pockets, eventually pulling out a crumpled scrap from her jacket pocket.

"What does it say?" He asked sounding curious.

"It says..." Simone began carefully. Suddenly she pulled back her arm and belted him in the forehead. Another punch went to the stomach, followed by a quick knee into his...'Dark Dimension'. He was down. And he'd stay like that for a while. "Sucker." Simone completed, shoving the scrap back into her pocket.

"The Three-Punch Pizza manovere." She grinned at us. "Never fails."

The three of us crossed the threshold, closing the door behind us.

"I'll check upstairs!" Sierra decided quickly. "Marco, can you down here?"

"What am I looking for?" I called as she made her way up.

"I don't know!" She replied vaguely. "Anything unusual!"

I made my way into one of the rooms on the left. A living room. I checked round. Nothing unusual. I went back into the hall.

Simone was there, crushing and scattering empty beer cans around. Raising my eyebrows was all I needed to do to pose the question.

"So he won't remember us." She explained "He'll think he just had one to many last night. Kitchen's clear by the way."  
"Any oatmeal?" I asked.

"What?"

"Never mind." I was heading for a third room when Sierra appeared at the top of the stairs.

"I found this in the bedroom," She said, holding up a strange mass of wires, chips and some sort of cylinders. "Does this look _human _to either of you?" We shook our heads. "Then let's bail. Maybe Maya will know what it is..." Simone grabbed the pizza.

"This is lunch," She explained.

A moment later, we were back at the not-so-abandoned-any-more farm. We headed inside the cottage.

"Hey, Maya!" Sierra shouted "Any ideas what this is?" Maya rolled up and took the bizarre bundle of components from her.

"They actually made this...?" She muttered to herself. Then, to us she added. "Oh, I know what it is alright. It's a proto-type. A proto-type of the Yeerk's version of the Morphing cube." We stared.

"Are you sure?" Simone asked "I mean, they can't have. It's the Andalite's only advantage!" Maya nodded.

"I'm sure." She said grimily. "I know. I know because...My hands designed it." We stared some more. She smiled weakly.

"I guess it's time I told you guys about my past, huh?" She said.

A/N: DUN DUN DUNNNN!!! Okay, sorry it was late guys. But was it worth the wait? Yes? No? Review, spudunkles, review!


	8. Eight: A Girl and Her Yeerk

A/N: That's right! I'm still alive! I'm sorry I couldn't get it done sooner, but we've had a really hectic few days. First my Brother's final exam results came, and we we're all to nerve-racked to do a thing- but he did really well so we had to celebrate, and then my older sister was only FF6 (I have a SNES Emulator on the PC) And she asked how to save, but when I showed her, I accidentally saved over my own file. I had over 20 hours of gameplay...D'oh! Plus everything's been really chaotic trying to get ready for the new school year. We're back tomorrow...They're mixing all the forms around, as I think I mentioned in an earlier chapter, I'm worried that I won't be with my friends...I probably won't get this done today, but I'll put it up as soon as I've finished it, possibly Thurs, Fri or even Sat! Anyway, sorry to keep you all hanging...Couldn't really have had worse timing, could I? ; (That is meant to be a sweatdrop!) Anyway, I'll go type 8 now...

KP: Yours is _always_ the first review I get! I liked the pizza scene to...I like Pizza. Mmm... I hope those stitches come out soon...Don't worry though; I don't think this chapter's going to make you laugh...

UKHoneyB: Sad! I don't like you any more...I've been to ALL the bookshops and ALL the libraries around, and they still don't have them! Right..._(Rolls up sleeves) _This means war...I will find those books!! But first, the chapter. Anyway, I knew some smart kid would know the time difference...Thank you! Have a waffle. _(Gives UKHoneyB a waffle from seemingly unlimited supplies.)_ The Pizza (may) be explained at a (much) later date, and Maya will be right now! As for Tobias...I'm sure he'll find some way to get his revenge...MWHAHAHA!!

Anonymous-cat: Yep, they work together. Alliance / Allegiance...I don't know...hmm...what's the difference? Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway! You know what I mean! Originally, Ax playing Hide-and-seek wasn't planned, but...Well, when I sit down at a keyboard and start to type, I don't even think about it! I divulge and elaborate and exaggerate and shorten and lengthen and cut bits out and add bits in...and then I look over what I've typed and it's like: 'WTH?! How did that happen?!'. Heh, I tend to ramble, I guess. When we have to write stories in English I get a bit carried away, and I've usually ended up writing twice as much as anyone else in half the time. Unfortunately, my already terrible handwriting and spelling has got even worse, and it's practically illegible. I probably have the worst spelling skills in my class. On this page so far (Before Spell check) there are 9 mis-spelt words. Stitches, libraries, sleeves, Alliance, Allegiance, lengthen, Unfortunately and illegible. Told you I was a dire case...Thank goodness for Spell Check!

East Coast Ryder: You spilt water...? It wasn't that funny! Glad you liked it, though. Scooby's meant to be my friend and she hasn't even read it yet... _(Hands ECR A towel)_

East Coast Ryder, Korean Pearl, sorry about the short responses. For once I don't know what to say...

Disclaimer: Okay, I don't think I've exactly been keeping up to date with these: Me no own, you no sue.

Eight: A Girl and her Yeerk. (**Maya**) 

"I guess it's time I told you guys about my past, huh?" I asked weakly, trying to smile. They didn't smile back. I can't tell you what they were thinking. I couldn't tell. I can't tell you what I was thinking either. I think maybe I was just hoping that this wasn't happening.

"I think that would be best." Simone said, without the slightest hint of compassion. I swallowed a few times. It was dumb! These guys, or Simone and Sierra at any rate, were my friends! I shouldn't keep stuff from them. And Marco, well...Marco.

"You going to start?" Marco asked "Because I'm really not interested in your domestic battles. I'm just waiting to go home."

"I have been honest with you guys." I said to the twins. It sounded desperate, even to me. "I just...omitted certain truths. I was worried you wouldn't trust me..."

"Just get on with it Maya." I nodded.

"Well...You guys know me and Chris knew each other before we met you guys." Slight nods. "I suppose it starts...ends...there."

The room was silent. Simone and Sierra were looking at the floor. Marco was studying the 'Wall of Shame'- dubbed so by Chris when he was in a particularly good mood. I glanced up at the wall my self.

The entire side of the room was taken up with photos. Photos of Taxxons, Hork-Bajir and humans. And one Andalite. Shots we'd managed to grab of the Vissers. And yet...There were a whole lot of gaps on that wall. Visser 12 was one of them. I followed Marco's gaze. Visser One. We hadn't managed to get a name for her yet. Just the face. She was pretty. I bet she had a lot going for her before she was made a slave. Even through the picture, she looked the most alive person I had ever seen. Was that her? Or was it the Yeerk?

A small cough from one of the room's occupants pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled wryly. _No escape this time, Maya. _I glanced at Marco.

"I told you some of us here were from right at the start of it all, didn't I?" I asked him. "Remember I mentioned those scout ships? They had instructions. The Yeerks needed to find out if humans were suitable hosts. They decided the easiest humans to test would be a child- They wouldn't put up a fight. And who'd believe a little kid if they started talking about seeing a monster? So, they wanted a kid. And it happened that I was the one they chose." I tried to keep my voice light hearted, even when I was painting my soul up on the wall for them to sneer at.

"Lucky you." Marco quipped. I sighed.

"Lucky me." I agreed. "I was seven at the time. I got separated from my mom when we were out shopping. You know how it is. The slightest thing will catch your attention. Well, you know, I did that whole crying thing for a while, but it didn't really take."

"I can't really imagine you crying." Marco commented. His focus was on me now. I think he could see how this was going. He was trying to keep it a little more friendly. The atmosphere in the room was terrible- cold, and yet my mouth was still dry. I was glad of his conversation. It kept me from drifting to far into the realms of memory.

"No. Well, my favourite film at the time was 'Baby's Day Out.'." I broke off "Did you ever see that film?" No one answered. It was like, _get to the point_. I swallowed. The worst part was coming up. "Anyway, I decided to go and look for her. I went down an alleyway, and the next thing I knew, I had a slug being forced down my ear."

"What? They had landed there?" Sierra and Simone still didn't say anything. Still didn't look at me. I wished they would. Marco has one intense stare. I looked at him, and he suddenly looked away, perhaps sensing my discomfort. I nodded.

"Yep. And I just happened to stumble on them." I stopped, unwilling to go on.

"So, then what happened?" Sierra asked. I looked at her, startled. She didn't sound mad, just curious. And she was grudgingly looking at me. Simone was to. I smiled back. Sometimes I forget how the twins understand anyone and everyone. Usually before you understand yourself, as well.

"Yeah, don't leave in suspense..." I grinned at Simone. She tried to look stern. "Uh-uh. Don't you be going for that Houdini complex again." She waved a finger. "This time you're telling the _full _story." Ah. Maybe not forgiven then.

I knew I was avoiding the issue, even in my thoughts. I felt ever so slightly resentful towards them. _I already spent six years going through this! Why do you want me to go through it again?! _I sighed. That wasn't the right way to think. I remember I was going to go through every detail...change of plan. I wanted to get it over and done with ASAP. Out of thought, out of mind. _Yeah right, Maya. Like you're ever going to forget it. Like your past will ever stop haunting you in your dreams._

"Sooooo...Before the Apocalypse happens..." Marco prompted.

"Guess what. My mom never found her little girl. I was just one of thousands of kids lost in the city every day.

My Yeerk was low ranking, in case anything went wrong. He had previously been a guard. And now, he was suddenly in the limelight. Everyone was watching him. Just a guard, maybe, but he had dreams." I looked up, trying to asses what they thought all this. "Ambitions, as it were. With this new, nimble fingers," I subconsciously waved my fingers. I tend to gesture a lot with my hands when I'm talking. Go figure. "So much more flexible then the Hork-Bajir's...that's what he said. Which meant he could get back to what he most enjoyed- mechanics." Marco raised an eyebrow.

"You sound as if you knew _it _very well." He shrugged, when he caught me looking at him. He had deliberately said _it. _Trying to make it less personal. I looked him in the eye.

"You try having something in your head for six years," I replied coolly. "Using your body for it's purposes. Trying to convince you how resistance is futile. Trying to force you out of your own mind. You see if you don't know everything about them." He needed a comeback.

"Them?" He asked, daring me to change what I said.

"Them." I confirmed. The Yeerks were living. They weren't inanimate objects. And maybe I needed to keep them a little more real to stop myself going mad.

_What is right and wrong? _He asked me. _How can you define something that exists only in minds? How can you say I'm wrong when you can't even tell me what's right?_

"Maya?" I shook my head, trying to clear it.

"Sorry. Anyway, he was good. He taught me everything I know." I said it just to irk Marco. He knew, and seemed to find it funny. I envied him. I wish I could find humour at this point. "And as my body got older, and my fingers became less clumsy, and he got used to 'his' body...well, he just got better. Any Blade ship that needed servicing, He was the one they pulled into space. And, well, as for me...I didn't give up hope...I guess I had nothing else that the Yeerk couldn't take away from me. So I took a back seat. And I watched him as he did his work, because if I was rescued, I wanted to get every last bloody one of them off my planet!"

"That information proved invaluable to us." Sierra begun. Simone continued for her.

"We've done so many sabotages on Maya's knowledge I've lost count." She commented. "But that still doesn't explain..."  
"The wheels." Sierra completed. Sometimes I get the creepiest feeling those two are telepathic...

"Those came later. See, although he was the best mechanic around, he got no glory. And that's what he wanted. He was just trying to earn his five minutes in the sun." I expected comments like _Oh, so now you're feeling sorry for it?! _But none came, so I continued. "It was only mighty warriors that got promoted...And then...Then Visser Three came to Earth to begin the full scale invasion. But he knew the Andalites would stop them. The Andalites were outnumbered, outmanned and outgunned. The Yeerks won many battles, despite what propaganda the Andalites spewed to their people."

"You make them sound like the Helmacrons." Marco snorted. I snapped back to the present long enough to become baffled.

"Who?"

"Never mind. Anyway, you better not let Ax hear you say that."

I shook my head. "I'm not saying that. The Andalites won a fair share of battles- the Yeerks could win the all out brawl, but in tactical manoveres, the Andalites ruled the roost."

"Now that, you can say to Ax. But you may want to cut out the metaphors. With Ax, they're more trouble then they're worth."

"I'll bear that in mind. Apart from their 'Superior Planning Capabilities', aka, being smarter, the Andalites only had one advantage-"

"The morphing power." Sierra and Simone said together, but it was Marco that pointed out the obvious and the direction I was heading in.

"So V3 wanted this Technician dude to duplicate it."

"Exactly. However, the Andalite forces were impenetrable. All the stealth missions failed. So he had to start from scratch."

"He worked for almost a year on that project. Analysing, experimenting...he barely slept." I shook my head "His need for glory was all-consuming. Eventually, Ten months later, he had the final designs."

"Ten months...?" Sierra wondered. "Isn't that a bit...fast?"

"Would you keep the Visser waiting?" I asked by way of an answer. "Anyway, that's where it all went wrong..."

"He had been given a team of scientists to work under him. He didn't trust any of them. The Yeerk society is an untrusting one. And his mistrust- Paranoia- paid off. Sure enough, one of the underlings betrayed him. His name was Judans, funnily enough. He called my Controller a traitor, claiming that he was working with the Andalites, sabotaging the project in return for immunity from prosecution when the Andalites won.

There was no trial. He was to die, 'just in case'. A quick death though, as V3 'Liked him'.

This particular Yeerk was especially vengeful. He didn't want to die for a crime he didn't commit- fair enough, I guess. He knew that even if he did escape, he wouldn't last long. So he gave his guards the slip, and went back to the lab. He committed the sabotage he was supposed to have done."

"Wouldn't the others have noticed?"

I shook my head. "No. That's the beauty of it. They all thought the designs were perfect- and they were. Perhaps a little different to the Andalite version; but I wouldn't know- I've never seen one. Anyhow, he just made a slight alteration in the formula. Not one there was as smart as him, and he knew it. I'm not complimenting him," I said hurriedly "It's just a fact. The smart thing about this sabotage was that Sap would still work."

"Huh?" The twins asked.

"_Sap_?" Marco echoed.

"Sap." I repeated. "S-A-P. It stands for Stolen Andalite Power. Originally, it was going to be Stolen Andalite Technology, Sat, but they were somewhat big on word play."

"Okay..." Sierra said. "Project Sap. Great. But how is it smart if he keeps it working?"

"Think about it." I said. "This usurping little turd thinks it still works- but he's going to check it all over before he gives it to the Visser- claiming he's fixed it. So he left Sap working- but there's a catch." I cleared my throat. Might as well tell the whole truth. "Actually, he pulled the idea from my brain. He wanted revenge, I wanted to kill the Yeerks, it was a win-win situation."

"What was the catch?" Marco asked, eyes shining at the thought of a scam.

"It worked...for a while. Just long enough for the Visser and his cronies to try it out. Then...it stopped working. "

"So then the Visser would blame the Yeerk that lied?" I nodded.

"But it didn't work. As far as we knew, the project had been abandoned."  
"But obviously not anymore." Marco commented.

"No. not anymore." I agreed.

"Well, you've started." Simone said "You may as well finish. How did you get free from this Yeerk, then?" I began to shrug- then remembered I was supposed to tell them everything.

"Do I have to...?" I groaned.

"Look, you may be allergic to pity, Maya, but I think you owe it to us." Sierra commented.

"Well, the long and short of it is that the Yeerk was going to be given a quick death, but after he evaded capture...That went out the window. He was sentenced to death by Kandrona starvation. They just gave him a tiny bit each day, so that it took him longer to die."

"Is that all?" Marco laughed harshly "He got off easy."

"Did he?" I asked sweetly. There was silence for a moment, and it was so quiet that when the penny dropped in their minds you could practically hear it.

"Man..." Simone groaned. "They did this to you?"

"Who'd you think did 'this' to me?" I asked curiously. "I believe they crushed my legs by running them over with some heavy machinery. I wasn't conscious enough to pay attention. Sorry."

"You shouldn't be sarcastic about things like that!" Sierra scolded. "It's not funny!" She looked so disgusted, I had to laugh. Marco was smirking to.

"So, then what happened?" He asked.

"I thought you weren't interested in our 'domestic battles'..." I teased.

"Yeah, well, until you wrap this up, I can't go home." He shot back "And besides, I doubt we'll be going back when all hell is breaking loose over here, so I'll probably be hanging around a while. Pretty soon, I have no doubt we'll all be running away from certain death _again_. So I'll take every break I'm given, even your life story." We stared at him, wondering if he was ever going to take a breath. (A/N: Not that anyone ever looks at me like that...) "I mean," He continued "We were just going shopping. _Shopping_, for heaven's sake! I mean, I go shopping like, twice a year, not including the arcade, and I still end up on a suicide mission! What's next? I mean, what, we're going to fall off the escalator and end up in Narnia? Hogwarts? Everworld?! Man!"

We all just kinda blinked at him. Then, he and I both started laughing.

"Okay, that sounded completely pathetic..." He groaned.

"Everworld?" I echoed "Everworld? You actually read those books?"

"My dad makes me. He says they'll 'Boost my imagination'." He rolled his eyes.

"Well, tell him not to bother. You should read her other series."  
"She's done another series?"

"Uh-huh. Everworld's alright, but the other one's better." Sierra coughed.

"You know, we are still standing here." She said. Marco tilted his head.

"Didn't I say that already?" He asked "Yesterday, I mean?"

"I don't know, you were the o-"

"_And_ back to the point!" Simone yelled, getting us all to shut up. "So what happened? How did you get rid of the Yeerk, and how did you meet Chris?!"

"Woah, chill." I said. "They beat me up, and just before we both died, they lobbed us out onto some remote roadside somewhere, so my death couldn't be connected to them. In a nutshell."

"And..." Sierra prompted.

"And...that's where it gets a bit hazy." I finished lamely. But it wasn't completely true. I had been oblivious to the outside world, but just before my body shut down for repairs, I had had the last conversation with the slaver that was in my head. But I wasn't ready to share that with them, not yet.

"And _that's_ where I come in." Chris's voice came from the doorway. "Hey, everyone. My shift finished." He came and sat down at the table with the rest of us. "Anyway, I knew about the Yeerks at that point. On the run from them, actually. Anyhow, that's not important. I was heading down this remote road to nowhere in particular, when I found this half-dead girl lying in the gutter. And next to her was something that was undeniably a Yeerk. I watched it as it shrivelled up and disappeared. Then I took Maya here and got her patched up."  
"And stole a wheelchair for me." I teased, nothing it was a sore subject.

"I sent them the money as soon as I had it." He pouted. "You couldn't walk Maya! What was I supposed to do? Leave you flat on your back?" I punched him on the shoulder.

"Hey, I was just heckling. Pay no heed, oh big bro."

"Please don't tell me you're related." Marco groaned. Chris laughed.

"Not in blood, no." He said. I rolled my eyes. That old chestnut. Needless to say, I went along with it.

"Not by birth." I said obediently. Hey, I bet every family has dorky little traditions. Ours started after we had met up with the twins and rescued our first person.

"Not in any court room in the world." Sierra added, sending me a Oh-This-is-so-dorky, Why-the-hec-are-we-doing-this-again? Look.

"But we are in everything that counts." Simone sighed, wrinkling her nose.

"So. Am I forgiven for keeping secrets?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Sierra said.

"Alright." Simone agreed. "It's not like we hadn't practically guessed anyway..." She added.

"What?" I demanded "You made me go through that and you already _knew_?!"

"Of course." Sierra sighed "You're not as good at lying your way out of things as you like to think, Maya."

"Yeah. I mean, come on. You know everything about Yeerk technology that there is to know. It's not like they teach that in school."

"Damn you and your unusual perceptiveness..." I muttered, causing them to collapse into giggles. "Besides, you're not that good at it yourselves."

"What do you mean?" They asked together. I grinned evilly.

"Oh, nothing, my telepathic friends." Okay, I'll admit it was a complete stab in the dark, but I _sounded_ like I knew what I was talking about. And from the looks on their faces, my stab had hit the target.

"Okay, we'll have to practise secret keeping." Simone said, eventually.

"No, we won't." Chris said "From now on, no more secrets, okay?"

"Does that mean you're going to pour your soul out for us? I asked, poking him in the stomach. The look on his face made us all start laughing again. Simone and Sierra got up to leave.

"Well, we've got stuff to do." They said "See you later."

"Are you going to talk in usion _all_ the time now?" Chris asked. "It's kinda creepy..."  
"Consider it revenge for working out our secret." They grinned, turning to the door.

On the way out, they stopped next to Marco and whispered something in his ears. He looked a little shocked, and, laughing, the twins left.

"What did they say?" I asked.

"I-" Marco began. Just then, Jake came through the door. He glanced at the clock.

"It's still morning then," He laughed. Then he looked round at us. "What have I missed?" He asked. I glanced at Marco and Chris.

"I don't care what you say!" I yelled, resting my head on the table "I am _not _going through that all over again!"

"What _have _I missed?" Jake wondered, coming to sit with us.

A/N: Well, that was an uphill struggle. And I know it's Sunday, not Saturday...sorry. It's not my fault the dumb music teacher gave us an essay within in the first two days...Oh, Me, Scooby, Chloe, Esther and Heather all got into the same form! We're all in the express band! I mentioned it in a previous chapter, I think...

Waffles, Scooby, Chloe, Heather and Esther: _(High fives)_

Scooby: Ya know, this means you're one of the smartest kids in the year...

Waffles: _(Contemplates that) _Yeah, I guess it does...

Scooby: The smartest people in this generation will be running the world in ten or twenty years...Now _there's a_ scary thought.

Waffles: I'm gonna rule the world! Wheeeeeeee!!

Scooby:... I think I'll emigrate to Mars.

A/N: Well, well done us! Speaking of 'Wells', how many times did Maya say 'well' in this chapter? Speaking of speaking, there was too much in that chapter, wasn't there? (Answers on a postcard to the usual address) I mean, jeez, why don't we have an alternate word for 'Well'? And 'Anyway' was just as bad...Ah well.

Sorry for it taking so long!!

Waffles


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